With it now being December, and of course edging ever closer to Christmas Day, I can imagine that many of us are planning festive parties, be they sit down meals or buffets and, of course, this requires plannng and working out the cost per head, to make the perfect evening for your guests. I have to admit that asides from cooking my family Christmas dinner, I am out of the loop when it comes to dinner parties nowadays. Instead I tend to go out with my friends, and let someone else do all of the hard work!
However, I do love creating menus so when I was asked if I would like to devise and cook a dinner party menu for eight people, 3 courses including nibbles, and compare the costs of the meal when non organic ingredients were used vs organic ingredients, I jumped at the chance. Often when I am at my supermarket I do look out for organic produce but because they tend to cost more, I only really buy them when they are on offer or if it were for a really special occasion, and I felt that the organic items would offer my guests a better eating experience. I think this is probably true of most of us who have to shop on a budget, we would need to sacrafice other food items to be able to afford to more organic produce. I am well aware of the benefits of choosing organic over its non organic food neighbours on the supermarket shelves, I mean some of the things I purchase most often, are actually among the top 12 food items containing pesticide residues. And, maybe more alarming, is that they are produce I give every day to my boys – apples, raspberries, grapes, carrots and bread! (information taken from the Organic Trade Board – see the inofographic at the bottom of the post)
I have to admit once I planned my menu for 8 people, I was surprised at the costs when comparing organic and non organic ingredients. I imagined that organic would be more expensive, and considerably more, and for the most part this was true. However, I was actually very surprised that for some items there was not actually that bigger difference and for some of the food I bought, it was the organic which was cheaper or cost the same!
My festive menu consisted of:
Nibbles
Sweet and Salty Mixed Nuts
Starter
Mixed Antipasto Sharing Platter
Main
Roasted Red Peppers Stuffed with a Mushroom Risotto, served with salad and crusty bread
Dessert
Ferrero Rocher Cheesecake
So after much researching both instore and online (as I was unable to get prices for all of the organic products in my supermarket), I worked out the costs for organic v’s non organic for each course. I have included everything from butter and the biscuits in my cheesecake base, to the garlic and wine used in my risotto, to make the menu as true to either organic or non organic sourcing as possible. Therefore, the cost breakdown for each course are as follows (and the price is per person based on 8 people):
Nibbles
Organic – £1.11
Non Organic – 56p
Starter
Organic – £3
Non Organic – £1.76
Main Course
Organic – £4.45
Non Organic – £2.11
Dessert
Organic – 92p
Non Organic – 99p
As you can see a totally organic menu would have made my menu cost £75.84 whereas if I had done purely non organic this would have brought the price down to £43.36.
As a compromise, and also because it was impossible to buy all of my ingredients from my supermarket which is where I would go for my dinner party menu food, I used a mix of organic and non organic produce. This made for a menu budget which I felt was more suitable and in keeping with what I intended to spend, and brought the cost for the meal to under £60.
I used the following organic items in my final menu (all of which were readily available at my local Sainsburys):
Red peppers
Cucumber
Mushrooms
Cream Cheese
Digestive Biscuits
Carrots
Olives
Feta Cheese
Hummous
Crusty bread
Butter
Garlic
Honey
Arborio Rice
These everyday items actually did not cost that much more than their non organic counterparts. This has made me think about how maybe I could incorporate a few organic items into my weekly shop, which would not blow my budget that much afterall. However, I could not afford to switch to purely organic because the cost of my weekly groceries would be too much for what I have to spend. I enjoyed taking part in this challenge, because it did open my eyes up to how many products are produced organically now, and how much choice there is if you choose to buy organic in my supermarket.
I was asked to write this post and take on the organic v’s non organic challenge by the Organic Trade Board. All comments made are my own and honest, after a lot of research!
the meal looks lovely, I would happily share it with you, especially that starter!
x